World's largest flooded cave (with Mayan ruins) found

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Last Wednesday, after ten months of work, the Underwater Exploration Group of the Great Maya Aquifer Project (GAM) found a connection between two of the most extensive flooded cavern systems on Earth—Sac Actun and Dos Ojos, both in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula—now forming the world’s largest known flooded cave, with a length of 215 miles. “This immense cave represents the most important submerged archaeological site in the world, since it has more than a hundred archaeological contexts, among which is evidence of the first settlers of America, as well as the extinct fauna and, of course, of the Maya culture,” says Guillermo de Anda, a National Geographic explorer and director of the GAM.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/e2514fff-bfdf-3fc1-a077-68ec7bb84f02/world's-largest-underwater.html

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#3

Did they use these caves for smuggling illegals and drugs?:grin:

This article told us very little about their history. The stalagmites and stalactites indicate that they were dry most of the time. What were they used for?

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I don’t think they know yet. Although:

The Yucatan peninsula is studded with monumental relics of the Maya people, whose cities drew upon an extensive network of sinkholes linked to subterranean waters known as cenotes.

Some cenotes acquired particular religious significance to the Maya, whose descendants continue to inhabit the region.